Generally, a typical electrical connector includes an insulating or dielectric housing defining some form of mating configuration for mating the connector with a complementary mating connector or other connecting device. For example, the connector housing may define a male or plug connector, or the connector housing may define a female or socket connector. The dielectric housing may be a stand-alone component, or it may be adapted for mounting on a printed circuit board, in a panel or in association with other mounting structures.
One or more conductive terminals are mounted on or in the connector housing. The terminals can have a wide range of configurations depending on the use of the connector. However, the terminals typically have contact portions for engaging the contact portions of terminals in the complementary mating connecting device. One type of terminal is a stamped and formed terminal of sheet metal material, and such terminals may have a contact leg or blade of flat sheet metal material.
Some form of retention system must be employed to hold the terminals on or in the connector housing. The retention systems also vary widely. The terminals may be press-fit into terminal-receiving cavities, or the terminals may have latching portions for latching with complementary latches on the connector housing. One form of retention system involves overmolding a plastic housing about portions of the terminals to rigidify and hold the terminals on the housing.
One of the problems with overmolded terminals as described above concerns retaining the terminals on the housing when the housing does not completely surround portions of the terminals. In other words, the connector may be designed for mounting on a circuit board, and the dielectric housing may be of molded plastic material having a mounting end or face. The terminals, such as stamped and formed sheet metal terminals, may have mounting legs which terminate in solder tails for connection to the circuit traces on the circuit board. The mounting legs may be embedded in planar faces of the housing at the mounting end thereof. An inner face of the mounting leg is engaged by a wall of the mold cavity during molding to position the mounting leg in the mold. Consequently, the inner face of the mounting leg will be exposed after molding the finished connector. Such mounting legs have a tendency to pull away from the housing, particularly since the solder tails are prone to engage extraneous objects during The present invention is directed to solving these problems in such an electrical connector which includes a dielectric housing overmolded about metal terminals.